Svana Másdóttir

Chitons and Peploi: The Sexy Rectangle

Let's talk about Sexy Rectangles AKA We're All Roman(ish) in the Summer AKA Humans Do Similar Things With Similar Materials.

What on Earth is a Sexy Rectangle? In short, it's a variation of a chiton or a peplos. This garment is called different things in different regions at different times, but it shows up all throughout the archaeological record. At its most basic, it is two rectangles that form the front and back of a belted garment, typically pinned at the shoulders. Sometimes it's one long rectangle folded in half with the open edges being the top and bottom. Sometimes there's an additional flap (making it a peplos style). Sometimes it's shorter and has a different name, but ultimately, this is a garment that people wore for a thousand years.

I will discuss the historical record of this garment in an update to this page at a later date. It's a fascinating discussion and one that I want to do justice to. That said, I want to make sure the instructions are up and able to be used even if I'm still working on the academic side of things.

Constructing Your Sexy Rectangle

You have options that you need to consider:

Do you want this to be a two-piece style garment or a one? While I prefer the drape of the two-piece style chiton, the one-piece style is faster construction.

Do you want this to have the peplum? Advantages: A peplum can be tied behind your back to create a sort of bra, which I find wildly useful if one needs that sort of support.

What kind of fabric do you want to use? Considerations: Are you wearing this as a summer garment or for cooler weather?

Friends, when I tell you I tried to draw this digitally, I sure did try to draw this using digital tools to make it neat and sensible. But my skills do not lie in modern things and that was wildly unsuccessful. And so, I have hand-drawn images for illustrations. Brace yourself and we'll get through this together.

To be perfectly honest, strictly speaking you don't have to sew anything to make these garments. The entire thing can be held together with pins and prayers. I have done this! At an East Kingdom event several years ago, I forgot my base layer and had to wear my unattached chiton with every pin I could manage to rustle up on short notice. Between a handful of pins from Her Excellency Sinn Larensdottir and my belt, I managed to keep my modesty intact. Turns out, it was unbelievably hot that day and two layers would have been miserable.

But most people prefer their garb to be held up with more than pins and prayers and so, here are my suggestions...

The EK event without the base layer. You can see the shoulder pins well in this picture. Her Excellency and I are wearing the same style garment.

Two Piece Construction:

In a piece of fabric, the warp threads are the long ones and the weft threads are the short ones. Imagine you have purchased a length of fabric. It unrolled from the bolt and cut. If you're looking at that fabric in front of you and the cut is horizontal, the weft is the WIDTH of the fabric and the warp is the LENGTH of the fabric. The selvage is the edge of the fabric that is created as it is woven.

Why does this matter? Because I'm going to use those terms soon and I want to make sure we're on the same page.

In any choice you are making regarding construction of this type of garment, you are constrained by the weft. It will either determine the maximum length or the maximum width. THAT SAID you can absolutely piece it. Is there historical evidence for this? Not to my knowledge. Should that stop you? Absolutely not. Maybe don't enter it into an A&S competition, but there's no reason you can't make and wear a pieced chiton.

When I am doing two pieces, I prefer to use the fabric oriented as described above. The warp is the length, the weft is the width. Occasionally, I will want to use a fabric that is too narrow to do this with, meaning if I tried that, it either would not reach all the way around me or it would be too tight to have a nice drap. The success of a sexy rectangle rests in its drape. Not only does this show off your wealth (oo la la, look at that excess fabric!), it gives that iconic Ionic look.

In that case, as long as there isn't a pattern that needs oriented a particular way, I can turn the fabric 180* so that the warp is the width and the weft is the length. This will, inevitably, create a shorter garment. If this is the route you take, you don't have to cut the fabric. You can use it as the folded single piece style garment if you want to save yourself some sewing.

Iconic Ionic draping

Porch of the Caryatids, Erechtheion, 421-406 BCE. Marble. Athens: Acropolis.

Another option to tackle fabric that is too narrow is to piece it. Cut a length of additional fabric wide enough to get your pieces to the width you want and sew them together in a long seam down the selvage side. If you can manage to put this new seam towards the side of the panel, you won't even notice it when you're wearing it.

The two yellow rectangles represent the front and the back of your two-piece chiton.

The hot mess to the right shows how the chiton fits on the body. The red marks show where you can sew the pieces together. The two small red dots at the top can easily be pinned instead of sewn or you can use buttons. In this example, the fabric is narrow enough that you can just use one set of pins/buttons/attachment points.

You will need to finish the top edges of the pieces. The sides are the selvage and so do not need finished unless you just want to.

My suggestion for finishing the top edges is to fold the edge over twice and then stitch down, either with a machine or by hand with a running stitch. If you are including a peplum, consider which side of your fabric will be facing out and plan accordingly. This is also a nice place for decoration if you'd like to add some trim.

Here are some examples where you can see the shoulder attachments and draping of this style of garment.

I'm wearing a peplos style garment, which involves the top portion of the garment folded down to create a flap. This particular one is my work dress for camp. I tied the front corners of the peplum together behind my back to create a sort of shelf bra. It does pull the front down, though not as much as my slouching suggests in this picture. My child is wearing a chiton style garment without the peplum. The garment itself is very wide on her and as such as a really lovely drape. I did more than one attachment at the top along the arms, as seen in some Greek statues, like this one at The Met (you can zoom in on the sleeves if you go to the site). The second picture in the carousel illustrates the shape of the garment nicely and you can see these multiple attachment points.

My brave children, unafraid of the dragons behind them.

This picture of the child in the pink plaid is my daughter wearing an open sided chiton over a dress. It creates a much warmer garment than either alone and by not connecting the sides and moving from a peplos style garment to a chiton, she was able to wear it for years. You can see the open side, held together with the belt and the top attached at the shoulders.

As I state before, my preference is for a two piece garment. I like the option of the peplum being able to be tied behind me and I like the way the seams give me less bulk under my arms and give the sides a little weight to drape nicely. If I'm making a garment for a special occasion, I tend to go with a chiton style rather than a peplos. I find I like the drape better with most of the fabric I use for these garments. Our modern aesthetic prefers a different silhouette than the people who wore these garments.

If you are a busty person or your chest is simply wide and you don't mind being anachronistic with your peplos, you can add ties to the front corners to make the behind-the-back tie easier and more comfortable. This addition makes them so comfortable for working garments, in my opinion.

But there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't try both options to see which works best for your needs! Every body is different and everybody has different preferences for that body.

One Piece Construction:

The orientation for a one piece chiton will have the warp threads running the width of the fabric and the weft the length. I have been known to add fabric to a one piece chiton to make it longer and hidden that seam under a peplum, making it a peplos. With the folded peplum, no one should be able to see the seam. If you need your garment to be longer than the fabric is wide, I suggest this method. Unless you have very wide fabric or are not particularly tall, you likely want to stick to using your fabric to make a chiton. Remember, blousing is an important part of getting that iconic drape so don't be afraid of a long garment here.

At its core, the instructions for the one piece construction are as follows: fold in half, pin on body.

Step one, fold.

Step two, pin.

Step three, belt.

Step four, wear.

But again, if you'd like to have more than pins and a prayer, there is more you can do.

I prefer my garments to feel balanced when I wear them so whenever I make a single piece chiton, I typically sew the entire open side together, creating a giant tube. Because this method of construction favors a very wide garment, it typically is worn very bloused. In the above picture of my child in the red chiton, you can see the shape of the garment and how it should lay on your body. The picture to the right shows the top part of a one piece chiton before the side is attached. I attempted to show how the fabric drapes along the top and where you will need to attach it to itself if that's your intention. The drawing is of fairly narrow fabric but the idea is the same.

When it comes to styling this garment, a belt is crucial. Accessories really do a lot of heavy lifting for this style as the garments themselves tend to be understated. This garment was present all throughout *at least* Europe and the Mediterranean for hundreds of years, which makes sense. The Roman empire was vast and carried technology and fashion all over the world. Additionally, consider how easy it is to construct and how there is no waste. It can expand as necessary for a changing body and be worn without alteration for as long as the fabric holds together, which is crucial at a time when the work of creating fabric was extremely labor intensive.

This is it. This is the whole thing. You can finish the seams however you want. You can add trim. You can accessorize with necklaces and belts. There are so many options for styling. I typically have a Romano-British flavor to mine but that's my preference.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse